The Last Airbender First Reactions Are In & People Are Divided On The Live-Action Adaptation

Despite much anticipation for the show’s arrival, the first reactions to the live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender are very divided.

Just a week ahead of the show’s February 22 premiere, the first reactions for Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender are rolling in, and critics who saw the live-action remake early are very divided on the show. Check out some of the reactions below:

Screen Rant‘s Tessa Smith was largely positive in her reaction to the show, praising it for drawing her in “from the very start” and establishing a “beautiful & exciting world“, though also acknowledged that she has yet to properly dive into the original show.

ComicBook.com‘s Megan Peters offered a mixed response to having seen the live-action show early “twice through“, acknowledging that it is “a solid watch that stands on its own“, though cautioning longtime fans of the original that “it makes a lot of changes.”

Collider‘s Mike Thomas, on the other hand, was largely enthusiastic in his view on the show, praising the first episode as “fantastic” and feeling just the opening scene was “far better” than M. Night Shyamalan’s infamous 2010 movie adaptation.

Comic Book Resources‘ Ryden Scarnato was also somewhat mixed on the show, assuring that he was “satisfied” with the first two episodes, and was “cool with the changes“, though admitted to feeling “some of the acting was a little stiff” and expressing a desire for it to have been “more cinematic“.

In contrast, Covered Geekly‘s @luminousdagger was far more critical in their opinion of having seen the first episode of the show, feeling that “mischaracterization is present” for the cast, that some of the “VFX looks unfinished when not focused on the bending” and lamenting that the show gets “off to a bad start.”

IGN‘s Rafael Motamayor was similarly very critical of the show, feeling the pilot was “a huge letdown” and that it suffered from “too much exposition, poor writing and horrible pacing“, though did acknowledge that “Dallas Liu rules” as Zuko and that “the bending looks great and generally the visuals are solid“.

@RamasScreen, however, was enthusiastically positive in his reaction for it, hailing the live-action adaptation as “spectacular” and feeling that is does its source material “incredible justice” while also going on to praise the “terrific” cast, especially Aang star Gordon Cormier.

@POCculture was similarly very positive in their reaction, saying they “loved it” and praising it as being “truly animation to come to life” thanks to the “sets, costumes & SFX“, which they hail as “a visual feast.”

Talking Comics‘ Steve Seigh continued the trend of positive outlooks on the adaptation, expressing he is “thrilled to say that it’s fantastic” and praising the blend of “one-to-one shots from the original” alongside “new elements to get excited about.”

Covered Geekly‘s Alex Duthie, another admitted “newcomer” to the Last Airbender franchise, expressed he is “enjoying [the live-action show] so far“, specifically citing the world as “beautiful” while describing the visuals as “cool” and the characters as “interesting.”

Developing…

Sources: Various [see links above]

Avatar: The Last Airbender (Live-Action)

Based on the acclaimed animated Nickelodeon television series, Avatar: The Last Airbender is an action-adventure fantasy series developed by Albert Kim. The series follows Aang, a young man training to harness the four elements to live up to the title of Avatar – the one who will restore balance to the world.

Release Date

February 22, 2024

Cast

Gordon Cormier , Dallas Liu , Kiawentiio , Ian Ousley , Daniel Dae Kim , Paul Sun-Hyung Lee

Seasons

1

Writers

Albert Kim , michael dante dimartino , bryan konietzko

Showrunner

Albert Kim